Mingyu only stared at the paper in front of him. He didn’t even try to fix his glasses which slid down to the tip of his nose. Next to him, Minghao was wiggling his upper body in some sort of victory dance, a huge grin on his face.

“I can’t believe it...” The words left Mingyu’s lips almost like a whisper, but Wonwoo could still hear them from across the table.

“Ha!” Minghao let out a victorious yell and Mingyu turned to face the excited boy, disbelief written on his face. When Minghao stopped the hype and gazed at Mingyu, the latter visibly gulped.

“Now where’s my prize?” said Minghao, eyes looking straight at Mingyu’s. Mingyu’s eyes wavered but didn’t leave Minghao’s gaze.

“I don’t remember saying yes to that.”

“Aw, come on. Don’t I deserve something for all my hard work?”

“What about my hard work? I’m the one who’s been teaching you.”

“Exactly. It’s also a prize for you. Win-win.”

Mingyu gasped exaggeratingly at Minghao’s statement. He seemed ready to throw any witty remarks he could come up with, but was rendered speechless when Minghao leaned towards him, moving closer so that Mingyu had to drag his lower body backward to keep the gap between them. He ended up falling onto his back, Minghao hovering above him. Mingyu looked like he was this close to turn into a puddle.

“Ehem.”

Wonwoo cleared his throat and both turned their heads towards him. Mingyu looked like a ripe tomato while Minghao didn’t seem fazed at all. The latter still had that smug grin on his face even as he left Mingyu and went back sitting cross-legged. Wonwoo wanted to sympathize with Mingyu for having to deal with Minghao’s... aggressive way of showing affection, but to be honest, Wonwoo couldn’t bring himself to do that because Minghao seemed happy and somehow that was all that mattered.

“About our next session, I’m sorry but I have to cancel. The band’s having an extra practice.”

“What?” Minghao looked disappointed now and Wonwoo felt guilty. He tried to think of something to make it up, but Mingyu beat him first.

“Okay. We’ll do it with just the two of us.”

Wonwoo raised his eyebrows slightly. He didn’t except Mingyu to say that. It seemed neither did Minghao, who didn’t even try to hide his surprise with his widened eyes and mouth slightly gaping.

“What?” There’s a dust of pink on Mingyu’s cheeks. Wonwoo didn’t know if it’s from the previous or the current situation. “After only acing a practice test, you think you’re good enough to skip studying now?”

“No! I’m still a bad, bad student. Teach me!” Minghao said eagerly. His smile was bright and free of the previous smug, it was almost childlike. Mingyu looked like he was in awe and Wonwoo felt finally he could sympathize with him. Minghao’s smile was indeed beautiful.

The bottle of water came inside his field of vision slowly. Wonwoo stared at it for a moment before looking up, tracing the hand that gripped the bottle, up to Jun’s face.

“Thanks,” said Wonwoo as he took the bottle. He opened the cap and took a gulp while Jun moved to sit on his right.

“You seem to get used to practice better than before,” he heard Jun said.

“Yeah.” Wonwoo replied as he closed the bottle. He kept his gaze forward as he continued. “It’s thanks to you.”

“Me?”

Wonwoo thought against turning his head. They were sitting fairly close together, shoulders almost touching. He didn’t think he’d survive seeing the other’s face in such close proximity. Yet at the same time he wanted to. The times Wonwoo felt suffocated when looking at Jun was equal to those when he wanted to keep gazing forever.

When he did turned his head, he was greeted with pure puzzlement on Jun’s face.

“You suggested me to run. I’m doing it and it does wonders.”

He saw the confusion turned into delight as Jun’s lips curved up. He shouldn’t have turned his head after all.

“I’m glad.”

No one said anything after that. They kept their gaze at each other in silence. Wonwoo’s head was screaming at him to turn away before he did anything stupid, but he was paralyzed. Thankfully, Jun broke the eye contact first.

“Uhm. It’s great you can do it routinely.” Jun said after letting his eyes wander, still looking at Wonwoo but not straight in the eyes. Wonwoo noticed a hint of red on Jun’s cheeks, but as everything concerning Jun, Wonwoo was never sure if it really happened or just his imagination.

“I had a hard time starting. That’s why I asked my brother to accompany me.”

“Yeah. I got Minghao running with me.”

“Oh.”

He didn’t miss how the edges of Jun’s smile shook ever so slightly. Wonwoo felt like he needed to say something, but his head somehow chose this moment to stop thinking.

“I, uhm—“ Jun was about to speak when someone called his name. It was Seungcheol from percussion. The senior waved enthusiastically towards their direction, his body swaying along with his right arm.

“Oh, I think he’s calling me. See you later.” Jun left him one last smile before standing up and walking towards Seungcheol.

For a while Wonwoo stayed sitting on the ground. He couldn’t hear what Jun and Seungcheol were talking about, but he could see Jun bright face as he opened his mouth in laughter. A mix of sensations attacked Wonwoo at the same time; a sense of aching to hear how that laugh sounded like, a burning feeling in his chest upon the fact that Seungcheol was the one who induced that laugh, a heavy weight in his stomach when he reminded himself that he was still sitting here and did nothing.

After a while, Seungcheol and Jun stopped chatting to go back to the field for the last practice session of the day. Wonwoo stood up and joined. By the end of the practice, Wonwoo came into one conclusion.

He was not sure about many things, but there’s one thing he was certain of.
 

The head of their class announced that he was summoned to the teacher’s lounge and needed a few people to deliver stuffs to the students’ council in his stead. A box of papers full of details of what their class was planning to do for their seniors’ farewell night, which was still quite some time in the future, but it was a huge deal in this school so preparation in advance was necessary. Nobody raised their hands immediately. They all knew.

As expected, Jun stepped up for the job. He said nothing, just stood up and walked straight to the box at the teacher’s podium. The leader gave him an appreciative smile and Jun replied with his own.

“There’s one more box. The property sample that the council need to approve. Anyone?”

Wonwoo raised his right hand, maybe a bit too quickly, he felt like he almost strained his arm. Worth it. He needed this chance.

“Thanks, Wonwoo.”

With that, their leader left the class and the others started to pack their things. Wonwoo left his stuffs untouched and walked towards the front of the class. Jun was waiting with that soothing smile of his.

They chatted all the way to the students’ council room. Wonwoo enjoyed the talk but he couldn’t help feeling distracted. He was constantly thinking of the perfect timing, which part of the conversation that he could use to say what he wanted to convey.

They reached one of the doors to the council room while they were having a discussion about Hansol’s sandwich story (as with most of Hansol’s stories, this one was weird). Wonwoo was about to say his opinion when he noticed something from the slightly opened door.

Mingyu was inside. That was nothing worth noting. After all, Mingyu was the secretary of the council. The unusual part was Minghao standing next to him.

Mingyu had his lips pursed in annoyance towards Minghao, but if the study sessions had thought Wonwoo something, it was that Mingyu’s was never really annoyed when it came to Minghao. At Mingyu’s pursed lips, Minghao said something which ended in a smirk. Mingyu moved his lips furiously in response, while Minghao opened his mouth wide, sound of laughter reaching Wonwoo’s ears through the gap of the door.

When Minghao stopped laughing, he went back to his teasing smirk and leaned closer to Mingyu. On the other hand Mingyu kept moving his lips, probably spitting words of argument. He finally stopped when Minghao took another step closer, there was barely any distance between their faces.

Wonwoo wasn’t sure who moved forward first. Maybe they did it at the same time. The gap was gone so quickly.

There was a part of Wonwoo that told him to take a step back and turn around, to give his friend and neighbor their rights to privacy. But there was something fascinating in watching their lips entangled, pressed together so hard it looked like they were trying to mold them into each other. At times they separated only to reunite a split second after.

When they finally separated for good, Mingyu stumbled backwards and his bottom hit a table behind him. Minghao laughed and Mingyu threw (99% sure) words of argument again, forehead scrunched and all, but there was no denying the blush on his cheeks. Minghao said something and smiled before leaving Mingyu, walking out from the door at the other side of the room. Wonwoo and Jun didn’t go in until Mingyu looked like he had regain his composure.

The way back to class felt different. They were still chatting, but the conversation was no longer as smooth. At some point the conversation was cut off, leaving a strange silence between them. Wonwoo was contemplating on what to say when Jun spoke up first.

“I’m sorry.”

It puzzled Wonwoo. “For what?”

“Well, uhm...” Wonwoo glanced at Jun, who bit his lips before replying Wonwoo’s gaze with his own. It was veiled with something... disappointment? Once again Wonwoo felt unsure. But just as always, there was sincerity deep in those eyes.

“Mingyu and Minghao... I thought you’d be sad. I mean, you and Minghao...”

Oh.

“Minghao’s a friend.” Wonwoo replied.

“I see.” Jun’s response was short and sounded unconvinced. He no longer looked at Wonwoo and returned his gaze to the front. Even from the side, Wonwoo could see Jun’s eyes running around everywhere but to his left, to Wonwoo’s direction. His lips were pulled back, as if he was holding back something.

Wonwoo spent some time examining his side profile, thinking whether Jun’s reaction was the sign. Or maybe he interpreted it the wrong way. Wonwoo decided it didn’t matter. He had made his resolve so he would say it no matter what.

“I have someone else I like.” His own voice sounded unexpectedly calm. He thought it would come out as messy judging from how nervous he was. “I like Minghao but not that way. I mean, romantically.”

The gradual raise in his heart rate was starting to affect him, but he pushed it aside and squeezed the words out. “There’s someone else.”

It took Wonwoo two steps to realize that Jun had stopped on his tracks.

Turning back, Wonwoo saw Jun looking at him. During the time he knew Jun, there were times Wonwoo wanted to always have Jun’s eyes gazing at him, and those when he wanted to run away. This time it was the latter. But Wonwoo persisted. Despite all of the uncertainty, he was sure that if he ran away, he’d forever regret it.

He recalled Minghao that day and tried to imagine himself as his friend, feeling the wind caressing him, his foot pushing the boxes, legs stretched as he tried to get his body forward and over the fence.

Wonwoo wanted to jump. So he kept his gaze at Jun and opened his mouth. Unfortunately, a set of familiar voices called their names before Wonwoo could say anything to Jun. It was from Seokmin and Hansol who appeared from behind the corner of the corridor.

As the four of them walked the corridor together, Wonwoo stole a glance at Jun. At the side profile he adored, Wonwoo made a promise inside his heart to try taking another leap next time.

The next day, Wonwoo was walking the corridor with Minghao when Mingyu and his friends came from the other end. Mingyu’s body jolted and his eyes went all over the place. Meanwhile on Wonwoo’s left, Minghao was unfazed; he didn’t move his gaze somewhere else, but didn’t show that he recognized Mingyu in any way. He kept his lazy stride and just walked past, turning right towards the entrance. Wonwoo thought it was weird but said nothing.

He only spoke up when the school was far behind them, the street filled with students of different uniforms, mothers and their shopping bags, sweaty office workers walking briskly with briefcase in one hand and handkerchief in the other.

“I thought you and Mingyu were dating.” It was not a good way to go into the topic, but Wonwoo wasn’t exactly good with making small talk.

“What makes you think so?” Minghao’s tone wasn’t any different from usual.

“I saw you two in the council room yesterday.”

“Ah...” Wonwoo saw Minghao grinning from the corner of his eyes. “He was just, finally, giving me my reward for the mock exam.” Minghao kept his grin but Wonwoo didn’t feel reassured.

“You’re giving up?” Wonwoo had a mixed feeling about this. A part of him felt disappointed if Minghao did. At the same time, he also wanted it. He didn’t think being with someone who wouldn’t even acknowledge Minghao in public could make Minghao happy.

To answer Wonwoo’s dilemma, Minghao said, “I’m giving space.”

Wonwoo thought about Minghao’s words. He didn’t know what to make of them. He continued to ponder until he felt Minghao’s finger on his forehead, rubbing the creases he didn’t know existed.

“I told you,” said Minghao with a grin. “He’ll give in to my charms eventually.”

“Right.” To that, Minghao placed both of his hands on Wonwoo’s left arm and pushed him to the side. Wonwoo staggered a bit but regained his posture in no time, chuckling in the process.

“Stop thinking about my love life and mind yours.” Minghao let out an exaggerated sigh. “How’s Jun?”

Wonwoo didn’t know where to start.

“He saw you guys too. We went to the council room together.”

Minghao hummed as the information intrigued him in some way. “How did he react?”

“He said he thought I’d be bummed. He thought I like you. Like, like you.”

“You don’t?” Minghao gasped in an exaggerated way. Wonwoo only sighed and Minghao laughed at that.

“What did you say to him?”

“I....” Wonwoo recalled Jun’s gaze from that time and noticed that his cheeks felt warmer. “I told him I have someone else I like.”

“And?”

“That’s it.”

“That’s it?”

Wonwoo heard Minghao put his feet down rather noisily and stopped behind him. Before he could even turn around, Minghao hit him on the with his bag.

Rubbing his bottom with his left hand, Wonwoo finally turned around and swung his own bag towards Minghao. With enviable reflex, Minghao tilted his body so that the bag went past his left side.

“Tsk.”

When Wonwoo smacked his lips, Minghao’s grin turned into a smirk. He raised his bag upwards then charged towards Wonwoo.

Wonwoo started to run, Minghao following dangerously close behind him. Between the feeling of his muscles working and his fairly stable breathing, Wonwoo thought of how all the running and band practice had improved his stamina. He also thought of how he used to overthink about happiness when it’s actually a simple thing. Just like this moment.